Bharti Group

Bharti Enterprises is one of India’s leading business groups with interests in telecom, agri business, insurance and retail.

Sunil Bharti Mittal Sunil started his career at a young age of 18 after graduating from Punjab University in India and founded Bharti, with a modest capital, in the year 1976.  Sunil Bharti Mittal is the Founder, Chairman and Group.  CEO of Bharti Enterprises head quartered at New Delhi.

 Mr. Mittal is currently the President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

 Mr. Mittal is the Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Seychelles in New Delhi, India.

RECOGNITIONS “Businessman of the Year, 2002” – Business India “CEO of the Year, 2002” – World “India’s Best People CEO, 2004” – Hewitt Associates “Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, 2004”

“Best Asian Telecom CEO, 2005 – Telecom Asia “Business Leader of the Year, 2005” - Economic Times “Asia Pacific CEO of Year, 2006” – Frost & Sullivan “Asia Businessman of the Year, 2006” – Fortune

There's a story behind his middle name. His parents (father, a bania, and mother, a khatri—Hindu castes) had an intercaste marriage, which created a brouhaha at that time, forcing them to adopt the surname Bharti. Sunil Bharti reclaimed the surname Mittal much later in life.

What's his long-term vision? "In five years Bharti should be a very large corporation. A billion-dollar one! Personally, in another seven years, I'd like to play a larger role in society. No, not politics If I can be of any use to the government then, I'll be available. By then the company should run on its own steam. Empowering people is important. I've had some desires but no time. I used to fly planes. I'd like to do something for my intellectual enrichment."

What would he attribute his success to "Right from the beginning ours was never a trading or money-making mentality, but of wanting to be recognized in our field and to establish a corporation. We did things never tried before in India. We are very fair to the people we work with (suppliers, buyers, staff). We wanted to prove that even with meager capital we could do bigger things. Now a corporation, we are working to make it an institution.

What about his family? “I have a daughter who's 17 and twin sons who are 13. I don't get to spend much time with the family. Everybody has a job to do and I think I was ordained to do what I'm doing. My family is supportive, however. Whenever I'm with them I try to spend some quality time. We have an occasional holiday. First generation entrepreneurs always have this problem."

How does he relax? "I used to play golf before, now sometimes I play tennis. But I thrive on my work. For me, work is love, not stress. But I won't say there's no stress. As you come to the top of the pyramid, the intensity of competition, of jealousy, is high."

Any spiritual connection? “I do some meditation and chanting of mantras, a little bit of yoga. I exercise in the mornings. For me spirituality is being good to people. Having a positive frame of mind —we've made a virtue of extremely bad situations."

The son of a politician, Sunil Mittal is from the town of Ludhiana in Punjab. He has built the Bharti group, along with two siblings, into India's largest mobile phone operator in just ten years. The UK based telecommunication giant, Vodafone and Singapore's SingTel both own stakes in the recently renamed flagship company Bharti Airtel. The group also has partnerships with Axa for insurance and with the Rothschild family for exporting fruits and vegetables. He has been Chairman & Managing Director of Bharti Group since October 2001 .

Sunil's father, Sat Paul Mittal, an MP, was always in public life. It was Sunil who started in business (making cycle parts in Ludhiana, India) in 1976 at the age of 18 with borrowed capital of Rs 20,000. Later he started operating from Delhi and Mumbai, india, mainly importing and distributing products. In '83-84 was set up the first company, Bharti Healthcare, making capsules.

The big break into the telecom sector happened by accident. In Mittal's words: "In '83 many imports were banned, including portable generators which we were importing. So we tied up for the manufacture of push-button telephones. Our telecom business is worth Rs 1,2000 million today."

Bharti has recently forayed into the retail sector with its subsidiary Bharti Retail. It has also entered into a joint venture with Wal-Mart for setting up the supply chain, logistics and cash and carry to support the burgeoning retail market in India

Bharti has grown successfully in partnership with various leading companies of the world - Singapore Telecom, Vodafone, Warburg Pincus, and British Telecom, to name a few.

Bharti Group

»Bharti Airtel »Telecom Seychelles »Bharti Del Monte India »Jersey Airtel »Bharti Foundation

»Bharti Teletech »Bharti Telesoft »Bharti Retail »Guernsey Airtel »Bharti Resources

»Bharti AXA General Insurance »Bharti AXA Life Insurance »Bharti AXA Investment Managers

Bharti Airtel Ltd Bharti Airtel Ltd is India's leading provider of telecommunications services. The company has 3 distinct Business divisions - Mobile, broadband & telephone services and enterprise services.

Bharti TeleTech Ltd Bharti Teletech is India’s leading telecom & allied products company and is one of the largest manufacturers of landline telephones in the globe. Bharti TeleTech Ltd manufactures and exports world-class telecom equipment under the brand 'Beetel'. The company’s manufacturing operations are spread across two ISO-9000 certified plants in Goa and Ludhiana with an installed capacity of 6 million telephone units annually upgradeable to 10 mn units

Bharti Telesoft Ltd Bharti Telesoft Ltd delivers best-inclass, revenue-critical VAS products and services to telecom carriers.

Bharti Del Monte India Pvt Ltd

Bharti Del Monte India (P) Ltd is a venture between Bharti Enterprises and Del Monte Foods India Pvt. Ltd, to offer fresh and processed fruits and vegetables in the domestic as well as international markets including Europe, USA and Middle East

Bharti Retail Pvt Ltd Bharti Retail is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Enterprises. Bharti Retail is setting up a chain of multiple consumer friendly format stores in India which will be 100 percent owned and operated by Bharti. Bharti Retail will provide consumers with products of affordable prices, great quality and wider choice. The company has launched neighbourhood format stores called "Easy Day". The stores are a one stop shop to cater

Bharti AXA General Insurance Bharti AXA General Insurance is a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and AXA, world leader in financial protection and wealth management. The company was incorporated in July 2007 and will bring to the Indian market a full suite of general insurance solutions to meet the needs of businesses and individuals alike

Bharti AXA Life Insurance Com Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company Ltd is a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and AXA, world leader in financial protection and wealth management. The joint venture company has a 74% stake from Bharti and 26% stake of AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd (APH).

Bharti AXA Investment Manager Manage Bharti AXA Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd., an asset management company in India, is a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises, AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) and AXA Asia Pacific Holdings (AXA APH).

Bharti Resources

Bharti Resources, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Enterprises, is a premier end-to-end learning and development solutions organisation that specialises in the customer experience arena. It provides learning solutions that impact business performance through enhanced employee productivity, customer profitability and effective talent transformation.

Jersey Airtel Ltd

Jersey Airtel, a subsidiary of Bharti, offers world-class mobile services in Jersey (Channel Islands) over its full 2G, 3G and HSDPA enhanced network. The Company brings market-leading products and services to its customers under Airtel-Vodafone brand

Bharti Foundation

Bharti Foundation was set up in 2000, with the vision, “To help underprivileged children and young people of our country realize their potential”. It aims to create and support programs that bring about sustainable changes through education and the use of technology and information.